Jump to content

CLARKSON SIGNS w/TORONTO $36.75M / 7yrs


CaptainRafalski

Recommended Posts

People keep saying this and I'm not buying it.  For one, Toronto is a city that is used to supporting a losing hockey team.  For two, their hero of the last 30 years is Wendel Clark.  Nice player, maybe made an All-Star game once or twice, but not an all-time great or anything close.  They worship Clark more than Mats Sundin.  All Clarkson has to do to get most of the fans' approval is fight every so often.

 

Did Clark get paid $5 million a year for seven years?  Money changes a lot of perception.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What everyone else above is saying...think you're off-base on this one Tri.  And I think NJDevs4978 has nailed the main reason why...$5.25 million per year for 7 years.  The fans may not get on him too much if he's merely decent, but if he struggles, and even worse, the fans start thinking he's a primary reason should the team struggle as well...yikes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What everyone else above is saying...think you're off-base on this one Tri.  And I think NJDevs4978 has nailed the main reason why...$5.25 million per year for 7 years.  The fans may not get on him too much if he's merely decent, but if he struggles, and even worse, the fans start thinking he's a primary reason should the team struggle as well...yikes.

 

The salary cap is exploding.  Now the team will probably not be so good, but if Clarkson starts out okay, and fights a few guys, he'll stay on the fans' good side.  Remember, he's got Don Cherry and the HNIC crew on his side from the start.

 

The media and the people there can absolutely turn on the players, rip them to shreds. Players up there need thick skin. Having a sold out arena for decades and a constant passion for hockey just comes with the territory of living in Canada's largest city, but not because they tolerate or celebrate losers. Their media are piranhas when things don't go their way.

 

Toronto is the most forgiving of the major Canadian cities.  They absolutely celebrate losers - they gave Wendel Clark a standing ovation once for hitting the post with a shot.  And the building has sold out even though the team didn't make the playoffs for 7 years.  They're not quite Cubs fans but they're the closest hockey has to them.

Edited by Triumph
Link to comment
Share on other sites

He's an SOB on the ice.  Not to the level of Avery, but maybe Esa Tikannen.

 

In one of the Isles games last year, he pushed the puck in the Isles net a good 5 to 10 seconds after the play ended.  It's one of the biggest no-nos in hockey, and it's the first time I've ever seen it, or at least it's the only time I remember seeing it.  (Hell, Claude used to get under the other team's skin by shooting the puck in the other team's net at the end of pre-game warm ups).   

 

Don't get me wrong, all things being equal, you love having guys like that on your team, so long as they're not huge embarassments like Avery.  Let's just not go talking about him like he's Elias or Datsyuk so far as class is concerned.

 

Not because of the sting of losing him, just because he won't be a particularly good player at that point.

 

Yeah, lets just ignore Clarky's Kids and all the charity work he's done for Newark. So unclassy...unlike Elias with all his donations/charity around NJ.

 

What I'm saying is...I think classy in terms of work for the Jersey community. We all know he's an ass on the ice and that's actually why he's one of my favorite players in the league.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, lets just ignore Clarky's Kids and all the charity work he's done for Newark. So unclassy...unlike Elias with all his donations/charity around NJ.

What I'm saying is...I think classy in terms of work for the Jersey community. We all know he's an ass on the ice and that's actually why he's one of my favorite players in the league.

Didn't realize that's what you meant. For sure that's good work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It took a couple years for people around here to stop b!tching about Zubrus being overpaid at $3.4M/year, and Zubes is a considerably better hockey player than Clarkson.

 

Being overpaid -- whether the player is actually overpaid or just perceived as overpaid -- plays a big role nowadays in the way fans think of players. Clarkie is making just $150k less than Phil Kessel this year. Methinks that will contribute to Leafs fans having high expectations of him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like signing clowe but we ALL know we overpaid for him. So i'd much rather have paid another 400K for clarkson than to have clowe. Signing him wasn't one of the worst moves of the summer, but his contract was.

 

An overpayment yes, but Clarkson wasn't coming back. Someone had to take on that role for the Devils.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is one huge deja vu. I swear I read this whole thing with Triumph saying the same things already - almost word for word it feels like.

 

Also - classy is not a word I'd use on Clarkson.  Then again "classy" is a description I save for the likes of Fran Drescher in The Nanny.  It's a word that is distinctly lacking in class :evil: 

 

I would call Clarkson a fairly stand-up generous guy - in addition to hilarious on ice (take that in both the good and bad sense.)  So, he's not a Devil anymore.  You know, the season hasn't even started and already this bit of news pretty much has no bearing on my hockey life now.  It's just not that big a deal.  If it really is then the Devils are in far worse shape than I figure - both on ice and in PR terms.  Clarkson's strong suit was that he's easy on the eyes and charming in a sporty dude's dude way.  I think it's time we move on though, really, I do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.